Disclaimer: All Naruto characters belong to Kishimoto.

Warning: SasuNaru, OOC and self-betaread (If someone wants to betaread, we will be happy).

Author's notes: Out of excitement that XKunoichiofthePaintbrushX will come to Japan, she and I ended collaborating for another fic after discussing stuffs about Naruto Manga chapter 399. This story plot will follow as much as possible, the plot of Naruto manga but this doesn't mean we won't twist the plot as we see it fit for our story.

Chapter Title: Prelude

Naruto's eyes widened while his vision narrowed, admitting only Tsunade's cool face. His heart felt like it stopped beating. He felt his sense of hearing steadily fading away. He could only hear his heart beating slowly... painfully. Wait. Why was it still beating?

A corpse was found yesterday, burnt and mangled and a team of expert medicnin confirmed it as the body of Uchiha Sasuke.

"You're kidding, right?" Naruto quietly asked. "He can't just die! Sasuke is invincible!" He could believe and accept anything but that because Sasuke would never lose to anyone, not even to himself. He knew Sasuke's burning spirit and experienced firsthand Sasuke's passion to win.

Sakura's lips trembled while she hugged herself as if she could stop her body from trembling. She looked at Naruto who was on the verge of hysterics. No, she couldn't comfort him especially when she needed to be comforted. Sasuke didn't deserve such a brutal kind of death, even if he had hurt the original Kakashi team.

"It could be a fake corpse," Naruto continued.

Tsunade shook her head. "I led the team, Naruto, and despite the state of the corpse, the jaw structure was similar to all Uchiha's and it contained chemicals Orochimaru concocted. It's him."

Naruto opened his mouth then closed it when an idea came to him. He toyed with the idea at first before grimly, he demanded, "Show it to me."

Tsunade hesitated, but seeing the desperate and pleading look of Team Seven, she acquiesced and took them to the laboratory where Sasuke's corpse was placed for further investigation on Orochimaru's activities.

"Prepare yourselves," Tsunade warned them before signaling an on-duty medicnin to pull the tray.

Team Seven surrounded the tray and Kakashi carefully lifted the sheet covering Sasuke's corpse. Sai gasped. Sakura pushed her hands to her mouth when bile rose up within her. Only a scowl marred Kakashi's cool look.

They knew it was burnt. They knew it was mangled. However, none of them expected to see Sasuke beyond recognition or expected to see Sasuke without eyes.

"A bounty hunter seemed to have found him ahead," Tsunade explained. "The way his eyes were plucked shows the handiwork of a bounty hunter."

They all looked up when Naruto banged his fists on the table before he left, running.

Naruto ran through what seemed like an endless hallway before stumbling outside. He fell on his knees and screamed, tears cascading on his cheeks. Tilting his head, he shouted, "DAMN YOU!" He leaned forward on his arms and muttered, "Why did you have to die like that? Why did you have to go ahead of me? How can I avenge you? Bastard. Bastard. BASTARD. ASSHOLE!! ASSHOLE..." His mind barely registered that somebody pulled him to his feet and was embracing him in comfort, but it wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

"Breathe, Naruto, just breathe," a very grim and solemn Kakashi murmured comfortingly while his hand rubbed the lad's back. While trying to comfort the blond, Kakashi quietly wondered why it had come to this. Was his team doomed from the start?

The next day, Naruto's grief turned to anger when he had learned that Sasuke Uchiha wasn't to be given a burial because of his status. To him, it was inhumane. They had no right to deprive Sasuke because of what he did. Sasuke hadn't hurt or killed anyone from Konoha so why would they treat him as if his friend was the worst person imaginable? Without hesitation, he marched towards the conference room where he was told the council was.

The two guards on duty immediately stood between Naruto and the door.

"A session is going on," one of them stated.

Naruto growled and raised slitted blue eyes that had flecks of red. "Move," he said.

"Leave, you insolent-"

"I told you to move!"

The occupants of the room got annoyed at being disturbed by the noise outside.

One man sighed. "Who is the idiot-" He was cut off when Naruto burst into the room, the guards lying unconscious behind him.

Tsunade half-rose from her seat in surprise, "Naruto!"

With his fists trembling by his side, Naruto asked, "Why? Why are you depriving him from having a proper burial?"

"Have you forgotten that he was a traitor to this village, Uzumaki?" a female councilor asked.

"I'm not asking you to have his name written in stone! All I ask is a burial for him. Is that too much?"

A tensed silence followed Naruto's outburst and was broken when another councilor sternly stated, "The council's decision is irrevocable."

"I don't care," Naruto muttered under his breath. He was disgusted with these people who knew nothing about friendship and loyalty.

"Pardon?"

Naruto held his chin up and with eyes resolute, glowered at everyone. When he spoke, his tone was harsh and his voice rang clearly. "I don't care what you or anyone in this village think of him. Sasuke was my comrade, my friend... my brother. I don't care if I get punished, put under house arrest or have my arms cut off. I will absolutely give him a burial and nobody," At this, his eyes darkened, "nobody can stop me." With that said, he left.

Few councilors gave Tsunade a look of displeasure.

"Your subordinates lack discipline, Tsunade-hime."

"That brat committed violations."

Before Tsunade could cover up for Naruto, Homura spoke, "Give the boy some slack. He just lost one of his dearest persons."

At the Uchiha compound and at the clan's grave, Naruto dug a small grave near Sasuke's parents. He dug using his hands, not caring about the scratches and wounds. After all, the wounds were nothing compared to what Sasuke had suffered. If only he was with him...

'Would you be able to change the outcome?' a tiny voice asked him.

He didn't know if he could change the outcome, but even if he couldn't, at least, Sasuke wouldn't have to die alone. He would have died with Sasuke... for Sasuke.

When the hole was deep enough, he took out Sasuke's hitai-ate - the only momento he had of his friend and the only thing that could substitute Sasuke's corpse. He stared at the headband and gripped it for quite some time before he carefully placed it on the earth. His sobs became louder when he covered Sasuke's hitai-ate with the soil he had dug up just moments before. Satisfied with his work, he placed a bouquet of white flowers on the mound.

"Sasuke..."

His eyes widened a miniscule when a single white flower was placed beside his bouquet. He whipped his head to the side and found Iruka wearing black.

"Iruka-sensei." Something made him look over his shoulder and was shocked to find Sakura, Sai, Kakashi, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, Shizune, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Gai-sensei, the rest of the rookie nine and Kurenai-sensei. Everybody was donned in black and each carrying a single white flower.

For Sasuke.

Naruto's tears fell quicker than the rain on that day.

Goodnight, Sasuke.

TBC

Author's notes: In case you'll end up wondering in the next few chapters, the reason why we used musical terms for our chapter titles was because we thought it would be nice. Of course, we just didn't select them randomly. We have to make sure that the musical term would fit the general atmosphere of each chapter. In any case, in this fic too, yoroshiku onegaishimasu.